Raspberries are the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the Genus Rubus. They are grown for fresh market and processing on a global basis today, with major producing countries in temperate zones of North America, Northern Europe, Russia, China and South America. The most popular variety is the Rubus Idaeus, or red raspberry, and other varieties include the black raspberry, purple and yellow.

Two types of most commercially grown kinds of raspberry are available, the summer-bearing type that produces an abundance of fruit on second-year canes (floricanes) within a relatively short period in mid-summer, and double- or "ever"-bearing plants, which also bear some fruit on first-year canes (primocanes) in the late summer and fall, as well as the summer crop on second-year canes. Raspberries can be cultivated from hardiness zones 3 to 9.

Raspberries contain significant amounts of polyphenol antioxidants such as anthocyanin pigments which help maintain good cellular health. The aggregate fruit structure contributes to its nutritional value, as it increases the proportion of dietary fiber, placing it among plant foods with the highest fiber contents known, up to 20% fiber per total weight. Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, with 30 mg per serving of 1 cup (about 50% daily value), manganese (about 60% daily value) and dietary fiber (30% daily value). Contents of B vitamins 1-3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron are considerable in raspberries.

Raspberries rank near the top of all fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of ellagic acid (from ellagotannins), quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins, cyanidins, pelargonidins, catechins, kaempferol and salicylic acid. Yellow raspberries and others with pale-colored fruits are lower in anthocyanins.

Due to their rich contents of antioxidant vitamin C and the polyphenols mentioned above, raspberries have an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of about 4900 per 100 grams, including them among the top-ranked ORAC fruits.

Raspberries are very rich in Vitamin C, Manganese, folates (B complex, folic acid), iodine and potassium and are a good source of dietary fiber. 1 cup of strawberries provides 135% of a person's daily Vitamin C requirement.

Encore Fruit Marketing can provide an excellent source of raspberry juice concentrate to help consumer products deliver one of the 5 A Day fruit servings.

Raspberry juice concentrate is carefully processed from fresh, ripened raspberries to provide the essential nutrition, flavor and color, in a convenient, ready to use ingredient form for processed beverage and food applications. Raspberry juice concentrate is an excellent ingredient to add a fruit serving to your retail label for beverages, cakes, pies, pastries, sauces, jellies and other processed foods like nutrition bars and snacks.

Contact Encore Fruit Marketing today for product samples and information on raspberry juice concentrate at www.encorefruit.com or Click Here to use our convenient Contact Form.